Environmental crime affecting EU financial interests, the economic recovery and the EU’s Green Deal objectives

Recent developments within the framework of the European Green Deal have aimed at criminalization and an overhaul of regulatory frameworks to address environmental crime and its effects on the financial interests of the EU. This document was prepared by the Policy Department for Citizen’s Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the Committee of Petitions. The study suggests that despite commendable efforts, the transnational nature of environmental crime and its convergence with organized crime, money laundering and corruption, have not been adequately integrated into current reforms. A proper categorization of environmental crime as a ‘serious crime’ is needed as an essential basis for policy reforms.